Infatuation
by LoveMeNever
Summary: Alaya Veyron is a human warrior in the Stormwind guard who longs to learn more of the Alliance races, particularly the Night Elf race. When a Cenarion Circle ship docks in Stormwind, Alaya gets her chance to learn. Set after the Lich King expansion. Includes FxF. Rated T. Will have a second part.


Alaya Veyron patrolled the harbors of Stormwind, the workers were busying themselves fixing a damaged ship, the sky was blue with few clouds, the sun shining down, and the sea clopped against the stone walls. All was peaceful, with the threat of the Lich King gone. Alaya had not been at the glorious and fearsome battle, she was much too young, but tales of the heroes that defeated him were quickly spreading across the lands. The battle took place less than a month ago.

The young guard did however, get to travel to Northrend where most of the action happened, she even aided one of the heroes in Dalaran. He was a human warrior, he needed a few coins to rest at an inn, and Alaya was glad to help him. Besides that her main tasks were taking down some of the lesser, easy targets with her fellow guards as they encroached upon the Alliance campsites.

After a few weeks the guards quickly came back to Stormwind, leaving the Northrend battles behind, because the King was worried the Lich King's undead army would attempt an assault in the city. It was complete paranoia but orders were orders. Her parents were happy and relieved she would not be on the front lines. Alaya, on the other hand, had wished to defend the Alliance further and was quite disappointed when the order came.

Another guard approached her standing by the dock to Kalimdor. He walked swiftly and stood in front of her and saluted. She saluted back as proper respect. He was the same rank as herself so it technically was not needed to salute. She recognized him as Thomas Hightown, he was her 'rival' and tried to outdo her in every way. Most of the time they drew up even, but it did not stop them from trying to be better than the other. Despite being her rival, she held much respect for him, he certainly proved to be relentless.

"Did you hear? There are Cenarion Circle druids on their way here. They should arrive shortly!" He said eagerly, he stood beside Alaya now taking up a serious faced, strict guard position.

"Druids? What business do they have in Stormwind?" Alaya knew it was not uncommon to see large orders of the other races 'politics' to visit Stormwind but none had come since the fall of the Lich King. Perhaps, that is why they came now?

Thomas shrugged but quickly straightened himself up again. His shield was strapped to his back and his sword hung at his side in its sheath. Alaya's own greatsword was strapped to her backside, it was much too long to carry in her waist belt. "I don't know what they're doing here. All I know is it's on some important business."

"Is Malfurion Stormrage going to be present?" It would be extremely rare but Alaya would have liked to have met him or at least see him in the flesh. Alaya was something of a book worm in history, she loved reading about the other alliance races and their history. Humans were still a young race compared to Night Elves and Draenei. Even Gnomes and Dwarfs had a bit longer history than Humans.

Ever since she was a child growing up in the city of Stormwind she had a fascination with the other faction races, particularly the Night Elves. There was a time when a group of Night Elves visited the city and it was akin to seeing royalty in Alaya's young eyes. One of the female Night Elves even helped her find her lost toy, and ever since then Alaya looked up to them.

"Well, if he is coming I haven't heard anything. Hey… look, it's the ship!"

Alaya's eyes followed where Thomas pointed, on the horizon the pair could see the sails of a Night Elf ship, as it drew closer Alaya found herself to be more excited to see druids. Sure, she had seen plenty of Night Elves, but druids were more of a mystery because they typically were not seen outside of their home towns and cities. She was instantly drawn to the mystical powers of shapeshifting and if she could have any other power besides that of a warrior, it would be druidic. When the ship came to a halt at the end of the wooden platform, five elves stepped off, three males and two female druids.

Other races had the capacity to become druids, but the one other race belonged to and aligned themselves with the Horde. She tried to sneakily take in the physique of the elves walking down the dock without breaking her guard form. Luckily her helmet had small slits for eyes, so she doubted anyone could follow her gaze. The males were tall, some seven or eight feet, their muscles were bulky and their shoulders wide. The females stood only a foot smaller but their bodies were lithe, but anyone could tell they possessed impressive muscles themselves.

Of the elves that were walking down the dock towards the city, one stood out the most to Alaya… a female elf with bright blue hair, claw mark tattooed face, soft features, and her garments barely covered her beautiful form. She had pauldrons with purple feathers, gauntlets with silver piping, her boots came all the way up to her thighs, her chest armor was almost nonexistent only covering her breasts, and it carried the same design as the boots and gauntlets, then the piping followed along on the sides of her waist attaching itself to her belt which only had a longer cloth piece to cover her front and backside, and she wore no shoes. The whole armor set complimented her light purple skin amazingly.

Most of the Night Elves in Stormwind had light green skin or dark purple skin with green or blue hair. This druid was by far the most intriguing Alaya had ever seen. The female druid's gaze fell on Alaya as the five passed by her, there was a small smile on the druid's lips, Alaya swallowed hard and acted as though she was a stern, fierce guard. Beside her Thomas snickered but she could tell he also was fixating on the elf by the way his mouth was slightly open and his head tracked their movements up the stairs on the city walls.

Alaya's eyes followed them up the wall until they reached the top where her vision was not keen enough to see. She exhaled slowly, not realizing she needed air the whole time.

"Incredible… they were all so tall and strong. No wonder they have a reputation of thinking they're superior to humans and the other races." She told Thomas.

He gave her an incredulous look, then it settled into an amused one, his eyebrow raised slightly. "You've got a thing for them, don't you?" His face broke out into a grin when Alaya blushed.

"I simply think they are intriguing. Their culture." It wasn't a lie, she did find them intriguing but it wasn't just the culture. Everything about them was interesting.

"Well, you know most of them are ancient right? I'll bet the one you were ogling is thousands of years old. There's no way they'd be interested in humans" Thomas crossed his arms.

Alaya felt heat rise to her cheeks again. Had she truly been that obvious? No matter, Thomas was right. Night Elves were extremely old and up until recently, immortal. Even now with their mortality, none have died from old age. Alaya had never seen an old Night Elf either, or a young one, but she read somewhere that the age of maturity was at least three hundred years old. Personally, she felt that was the reason they tended to stay amongst themselves and not become attached to the other races. Because if she lived that long it would be very painful watching human, dwarven, and gnome friends die. Assuming they even associated with the other races at all. Which most did not.

"I would love to talk to her. Or any of the druids." Alaya sighed knowing they most likely would not give her the time of day.

As the rest of the day went on, Alaya tried to focus on her guard duties, but she could not get the image of that druid out of her head. She wondered what it would be like to speak to her. Would the druid like her? Would she think Alaya was just a child? Would they immediately click and talk all through the night? Oh, the questions Alaya would ask her. All the things she's always wished to know about Night Elves. Do they have children in Darnassus? Were all the druids born in the Moonglade? How do they manage to shapeshift into different animals? And could they learn any animal form?

"Alaya, shifts over! Head back to the barracks for your next assignment." The captain of the guard yelled over to her from the level above the docks. She saluted instantly when he spoke and then when he walked away she dropped her shoulders some from the strain of being tense and upright for hours.

The barracks was located in a cylinder shaped building that was attached to the walls of Stormwind for ease of access to the upper levels of the wall in case of a breach. There were dozens of beds stationed in the cylinder for guards in between assignments. Alaya walked over to the table with the papermaster, the one who gave out all the assignments. "Veyron, Alaya." She said as the old man gestured for her to come closer.

He dug through some papers before finding one with her name on it. "You are to report to the Trade District, position A4."

Alaya nodded and grabbed the paper from the old man to examine it herself. She sighed internally. She had a love/hate relationship with the trade district. On one hand, the trade district was a little less boring than other districts because of the business of the bank and the auction house. Not to mention, Alaya typically saw heroes of all kinds there. On the other hand, though, there were far more annoyances. Once a fight nearly broke out between two trade merchants over who had the right to sell their goods where and Alaya had to stop it. Sometimes she even had to deal with drunks coming from the local inn.

The sun was setting by the time she made it to her new post in the trade district. It was as it usually was, loud and bustling with life. She glanced in the direction of the bridge to the Dwarf district and her jaw almost dropped when she saw the beautiful druid from the Harbor walking towards her direction.

Alaya's heart started beating incredibly fast as she became increasingly aware the druid was coming closer and closer.

"Excuse me?"

Alaya's whole body felt shaky. The voice was just mere inches to her left.

"I'm a bit lost… could you tell me where the Auction House is?" The smooth and alluring voice said.

"I… um, it's over there to the right. Behind us." Alaya sputtered out.

"You have my thanks." The Night Elf smiled and began to walk towards the Auction House before stopping. "Hm…" She looked Alaya up and down before her face lit up.

"You are that guard from the Harbor who was staring."

Alaya could not believe the elf actually remembered her. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt heat rise to her cheeks as the embarrassment of the situation dawned on her. She had been caught staring at the beautiful creature. "I-I was not _staring_ … I just… I..."

The Night Elf laughed deliciously. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"My name? Oh, I'm Alaya Veyron." Alaya wondered why her name was important, if she was going to be reported to higher ups for… well, she was not sure what exactly she might be reported for. Indecency? She supposed that would fit. "Please… I didn't mean to stare. I meant no disrespect."

The elf smiled and stood closer to the much shorter guard. "Do not worry, Alaya Veyron. You did not have the typical stare that your people usually have. You just seemed curious. That is often rare to find in your kind."

"Oh… well…" Alaya wasn't sure what to say to that. Was it a compliment or an insult to her people? She certainly felt more honored by what the elf said than insulted.

"I apologize if I have made you uncomfortable, you seem like you want to ask me something." The Night Elf smiled pleasantly. "I do not mind it."

Alaya wondered how the druid knew, she figured it was probably akin to meeting a small child practically bouncing up and down with eagerness to ask a question. She hesitated for a moment and thought whether to ask her numerous questions or if that would be considered unprofessional.

The tall elf just waited patiently. She gave off a presence of a controlled, calm, and very patient individual. Alaya supposed that was how all of the Cenarion druids behaved.

Her curiousness got the better of her and she very bluntly asked, "How old are you?" She expected the druid to become offended but the elf actually laughed.

"I have lived many of a human's lifetime, so to you I would be very old, but in my kin's eyes I am not." The Night Elf stood relaxed and Alaya couldn't help but notice the way her body curved and the way her armor complimented every aspect. The chest armor clung to her breasts and revealed the tone abdomen just underneath them. The cloth covering more intimate areas was doing just that and leaving her thighs exposed. It flowed in the wind every so often revealing that the Night Elf wore undergarments as well.

"Are there any Night Elf children?" Alaya asked eagerly, then she cleared her throat and said more casually, "I mean… surely there are, right?"

The Night Elf looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well yes of course there are. Just not as many as you would be accustomed to. Humans reproduce much faster than Night Elves do."

"I see… that's very fascinating." Alaya put her index finger and thumb to her chin in thought. She knew there was a difference in reproductive abilities in the Night Elves, but she wondered just how much different. This elf was implying that there was only a handful of children. Speaking of the elf, she had been so rude to not even ask her her name.

"Oh, what is your name?" Alaya asked shyly and embarrassed she hadn't asked sooner.

The elf smiled gently, "My name is Marlausia."

 _Marlausia,_ what a beautiful name Alaya thought. It seemed fitting for a druid.

Just as Alaya was about to ask another question, another druid from the docks earlier that day swooped down from the sky a a bird and transformed elegantly back into a male Night Elf. "Marlausia." He said, completely ignoring the presence of Alaya.

"Yes, Tyran?"

"We have important business in the Keep. Our audience with the king has been granted." The elf named Tyran told Marlausia. She nodded and gazed back at Alaya.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Alaya Veyron. Perhaps we shall meet again, if the ancients will it." Marlausia, with Tyran, transformed into a large pale bird and flew straight up into the air towards the castle.

Alaya smiled with glee. She couldn't believe the Night elf had _actually_ spoken to her. And she had seemed genuinely interested in speaking with her. It was just a shame it didn't last longer, Alaya thought. She desperately hoped she would get to have more conversations with the elf. Next time she would ask about her druid nature.


End file.
